Once again, our conference organisers hosted a wonderful conference dinner and glorious award presentation.
Thank you to our conference committee for organising and managing such a great event. We must also thank our lovely president, Leisl Leighton, who MC’d the evening for us.
We started by congratulating the winners of the Cover Contest, the Ripping Start, Selling Synopsis, First Kiss, Little Gems and Little Gems Cover Awards, all of which were decided and announced during the year. (If you would like to revisit the winners and finalists, there are links at the end of this post.) Thank you to Michael Hauge, Erica Hayes, Joanne Grant, Pauline Johnston, Sarah E Younger, Tricia Sargant and Lis Hoorweg for presenting those awards.
Then we moved onto the awards that are saved for the big reveal at the conference, which this year included the ROMA, The Valerie Parv Award, The Emerald, The Emerald Pro, The Ruby (in all its various categories), the Lynne Wilding Meritorious Service Award and a Life Member Award. We also announced the covers from our members’ books that we voted as our favourites in several categories. Thank you to Leisl Leighton, Valerie Parv, Jo McAllister, Esi Sogah, Erica Hayes, Kerri Lane, Michael Hauge, Annie Lynch, Nikoo McGoldrick, Jim McGoldrick, Amy Andrews and Anita Joy for presenting these awards. Thanks too, to Anne Gracie for the famous and much-loved ‘stand ups’!
I must also take this opportunity to thank Erica Hayes and all the volunteer members of the contest team of RWA, without whom, our contest season could not happen.
And now, for the results, drumroll please…
The Cover Contest competition, judged by our members. As authors, we often have very little control over our covers, so we are always grateful when the cover fairies (otherwise known as the artists and publishers who create the art) bless us. This year, our most blessed books, as judged by our members, were: (if you’d like to see the covers in question, you can find them here.
Favourite Contemporary Romance Cover:
Operation White Christmas – Nicki Edwards – Pan MacMillan
Favourite Erotic/Sexy Romance Cover:
The Veiled Heart – Elsa Holland – Self Published: Artist, Hang Le
Favourite Historical Romance Cover:
The King’s Man – Alison Stuart – Escape Publishing
Favourite NA/YA Romance Cover:
The Finn Factor – Rachel Bailey – Entangled Embrace
Favourite Paranormal Romance Cover:
The Shattered Court – M J Scott – Penguin/ROC
Favourite Romantic Elements Cover:
Pretty Famous – Carla Caruso – Harper Impulse
Favourite Romantic Suspense Cover:
Storm Clouds – Bronwyn Parry – Hachette Australia
Favourite Rural Romance Cover:
Summer and the Groomsman – Cathryn Hein – Self-published. Artist Kellie Dennis, Book Cover by Design.
Congratulations to all these members for having great luck with the cover fairies and to the publishers who commissioned and artists who created these gorgeous covers.
The Roma Award for Media
The finalists for the ROMA Award 2016 were:
Danielle Binks;
“It takes a village to write a romance: the surprising rise of collaborative fiction.”
and
“By any other name: the secret lives of romance authors.
The Wheeler Centre
“The F word: A live podcast, featuring Kate Bell, Kat Mayo and Beth Driscoll”
The ROMA is an award to recognise professional, positive media coverage of the romance industry. It was launched by Romance Writers of Australia (Inc) (RWA) to help recognise and acknowledge those members of the media who reach beyond the cliché in their reporting on romance writers, releases or industry. In determining the winner, the award selection panel look at the angle of the article, the quality of research, the representation of romance and the ‘reach’ of the piece. Any RWA member can nominate a media piece that they feel stands out as particularly worthy.
And the ROMA was awarded to:
Danielle Binks, for BOTH her pieces – they tied!
The Valerie Parv Award (VPA)
Highly Commended:
Bloodlines – Jess Langhorne
By Love Undone – Samara Kelly
His Bargained-for Bride – Jodie Morphett
3rd Place: Starborn – Samantha Wicks
2nd Place: Demon Curse – Raewyn Bright
And the winner and the new minion is…
1st Place, VPA – Fighting Spirit – Chris Weston
The Emerald Award
3rd Place: The Shooting Star – Frances Dall’Alba
2nd Place: Alpine Kisses – Laura Boon
1st Place: Island Redemption – Suzanne Cass
Emerald Pro
1st Place: A Suitcase, a Smile and a Lie – Katy Scott
The Lyn Wilding Meritorious Service Award.
The LWA is named in honour of RWA’s first president, Lyn Wilding, and honours our wonderful volunteers. In this sense, it is not won, but awarded, as all our volunteers and all the nominees are winners in our eyes. This year, those nominated included Linda Brown, Daniel DeLorne, Imelda Evans, Erica Hayes, Delwyn Jenkins, Jillian Jones and Vicki Vuat. We would like to thank all of them for their service, and the members who took to the trouble to nominate them. We appreciate all your efforts. But the award can only go to one and this year the recipient is:
Daniel DeLorne
New Life Member
In honour of her long history of sharing her expertise and experience with RWA, we are delighted to announce our newest Life Member:
Valerie Parv
Ruby Award for Romantic Book of the Year
Ruby Novella Finalists:
Misletoe Maverick – Shannon Curtis – self-published
Silk and Scars – Cassandra Dean – Decadent Publishing
What a Bachelor Needs – Kelly Hunter – Tule Publishing
Pursued by a Rogue – Kelly Hunter – Tule Publishing
And the Ruby goes to:
What a Bachelor Needs – Kelly Hunter – Tule Publishing
Ruby Short Sweet Finalists:
The Secret Son (Retitled as The Montana Son) – Joan Kilby – Tule Publishing
You for Christmas – Madeline Ash – Tule Publishing
Still Married to her Ex – Lucy Clark – HM&B Medical
Home to Bindara Creek – Juanita Kees – Self Published
Reach for the Stars – Kerrie Patterson – Self Published
And the Ruby goes to:
The Secret Son (Retitled as The Montana Son) – Joan Kilby – Tule Publishing
Ruby Short Sexy finalists:
Tribal Law – Shannon Curtis – Australian Romance Readers Association
The Wedding Bargain – Yvonne Lindsay – Harlequin Desire
Pretend It’s Love – Stephanie London – Entangled Lovestruck
Never Surrender – Rosie Miles – Entangled Ignite
Seducing His Enemy’s Daughter – Annie West – HM&B Sexy
And the Ruby goes to:
Never Surrender – Rosie Miles – Entangled Ignite
Ruby Long Romance finalists:
Rise – Karina Bliss – Self Published
The Spring Bride – Anne Gracie – Berkley/Penguin Random House
Kakadu Sunset – Annie Seaton – Pan MacMillan Australia
Lethal in Love – Michelle Somers – Random House Australia
And the Ruby goes to:
Lethal in Love – Michelle Somers – Random House Australia
Ruby Romantic Elements finalists:
A Dangerous Arrangement – Lee Christine – Escape Publishing
The Patterson Girls – Rachel Johns – Harlequin MIRA
Pay the Piper – Mary Brock Jones – Self Published
Between the Vines – Tricia Stringer – Harlequin MIRA
And the Ruby goes to:
The Patterson Girls – Rachel Johns – Harlequin MIRA
Finally, here are the links for the previously announced competitions:
Little Gems and Little Gems Cover Results 2016
And then we all boogied our celebrations at the Escape after-party till they kicked us out!
Congratulations to all the winners and recipients and to all those admiring them from afar, make sure you enter next year. You have to be in it to win it!
Romance Writers of Australia 
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